New Watch_Dogs Q&A: PS4 Framerate “Pretty Steady;” Resolution Not Final but “Looks Great” and More

Many are still wondering about the resolution and frame rate of the various platforms of Watch_Dogs, and Creative Director Jonathan Morin responded that question first and foremost in a new Q&A Video by the good folks at PlayStation Access.

Frame rate is “pretty steady and excellent” (at least “excellent” is what I think the second word is, as Morin’s accent makes it hard to understand) while the development team is still working on “fine tuning those things up to the very last second”. That said, according to Morin the game “looks great” and we’ll notice when we’ll get our hands on it.

Morin also mentions that typical players will be able to get 35 to 40 hours of gameplay, but if you want to do everything it’ll last you over a hundred.

Further information shared during the interview includes:

The team isn’t trying to do anything spectacular with the DualShock 4. There’s just the ability to use the touchpad for the map.

The team took some liberties to make Chicago smaller and more dense than the real one.

You can “of course” kill NPCs.

The way NPCs react to Aiden depends on how you behave and on your reputation.

There’s a “heat” system, and it’s kind of similar to GTA’s star system, but it has a memory to it, as people talk to each other with a sort of ripple effect.

The game will play different if you play “good” or “evil,” but there won’t be any difference in the story itself.

There’s quite a bit of customization for Aiden’s clothes, but there’s no tuning for cars or guns.

There are around 70 different vehicles.

Different kinds of cars will feel very different when driving them.

The city is very big, but not the biggest that has ever done. Yet it’s “the deepest and the richest you’ve ever seen before.”

You can unlock several hideouts and use them to sleep (which sort of resets the heat system and lets you change the time of day to your liking) and teleport around.

Some of the hacking tools are more efficient in certain times of the day.

There are quite a few multiplayer modes. There’s the hacking mode we already, but there’s also “tailing,” that doesn’t necessarily trigger a confrontation. There’s a seamless team vs team mode only on next gen consoles and PC.

There’s also free roam multiplayer. There are no missions and activities, and you can just do whatever you want.

You can turn off multiplayer intrusions but Morin encourages players to try it at least before deactivating it.

You can customize the appearance you’re going to have to other players.

There are no lobbies at all. You can request to join multiplayer on the spot, but no actual lobbies.

Multiplayer and single player have the same progression system, but multiplayer has notoriety on top of it, and it allows to unlock further skills. If your notoriety drops you can also lose those skills.

There’s no online interaction between PS3 and PS4 for “technical reasons.”

You can enjoy the whole interview in the video below.

Join the Discussion

I hope the PC version gets some decent optimisations cus im sure the philosophy is well we’ll do what we can then if its not good enough they can just go buy a better gfx card I think excellent will mean it stays above 30 during heavy scenes if theres a lot of explosions and stuff

They Call Me Senpai

My phone is crappy and only manages 480p, but the graphics look fantastic. Unfortunately, I’m gonna be stuck with the PS3 version, but it’ll still look good.

Gannicus

my phone is windows phone I could have 60inch 16K tablet with a quantum chip, DNA based storage and quantum entanglement for communication…. still cant have the app

Giuseppe Nelva

what in the world made you choose a windows phone?

http://www.twitch.tv/MC_A_DOT A DOT ASANTE

HAHAAHAHAH +2014

Raven Nafariea

Oh come on, Windows 8! But on your phone!!! What is not to love about that? hehe

Xtreme Derp

Only staunch microsoft “fans” own things like surface tablets and windows phones. The general public might as well not know they exist.

Raven Nafariea

I am extremely happy with my iPod and iPad myself and I am still on Windows 7 till MS removes that horrible Metro design I hope for Windows 9. Not holding my breath for that tho. lol

Xtreme Derp

They announced the start menu coming back in Windows 8.2. Yet another 180 after pissing off a huge number of their customers.

Raven Nafariea

Oh now they are saying it is coming back for 8.2? Wow, last I heard was in a small update and they said the next week it would come out so I started looking into buy a OEM Windows 8.1. Thank God I didn’t because the next week came and they retracted it and said nope, going to be in a future update. Now I guess they are waiting for 8.2. They truly are a horrible company.

Gannicus

read my post above about win 8 and the start menu which im glad its gone tbh, can get around much faster with out it

Raven Nafariea

My problem with Windows 8 goes way beyond just no start menu. That is just barley touching the surface of the problems I have with it. lol Windows 8 is a horrible experience for Desktop users. I refuse to put W8 on computer for my customers and I never had one single complaint about that. Matter of fact that is one of the main reasons why they want me to build for them so they do not have to be forced to have Windows 8 when they buy a new computer in the stores.

Gannicus

don’t understand the desktop thing either I havnt had a problem, maybe its more hassle for professionals than a gamer or normal person I dunno also check out this Lumia 930 I want, specs caught up totally and packs everything except the kitchen sink so WP might get some traction in the next year or 2 well unless MS but in with there bright ideas and wreck it…

Hopefully MS does get Win 9 right just like they did with XP when ME mucked things up badly. They do have an advantage over Apple still and they are open field not closed off like Apple OSes. Still interested to see how all this OS stuff plays out when Win 9 gets introduced.

Pretty much, yep. So that is why I am looking forward to W9. I think they can get that one right. There is a lot of good things in W8 so I think they will see what people complain about the most in W8 and fix those things while hopefully improving what they got right in W8.

Gannicus

I think what they try and do is change to much in 1 go, heck with vista they tried to change the whole core of the OS and was even trying to write a completely new file management system forget what it was called then had to drop tons of stuff and the file system that didn’t have time/simply couldn’t do it that’s why it ran like a dog, but win 7 they streamlined everything again… win 8 they tried change the feel of the OS like from win 3.11 to 95 (which was a really massive change) first proper graphical UI, think they thought they could do the same again… think the problem was 3.11 did need to change upto 95 but windows doesn’t need to change like that at least until holographic interaction comes out (so cool) or minority report style interfacing slap on modern UI for the touch devices but keep the same stuff for normal users, I havnt got a problem with it but a lot of ppl do,

I hope they keep the modern Ui in win 9 as long as it can be hid from ppl that don’t want it cus I find it like 10x faster than using a start menu, and that’s no joke I get a proper start menu back without the modern UI search stuff and itll be really clunky for me

Raven Nafariea

I think it is going to be better for MS now that they are releasing OP’s sooner. That way they might not try to change things so drastically and if they did than people can just wait till the next version and won’t have to wait so long.

Gannicus

yeah that’s true, do ya reckon MS in changing? like for the better, spencer will prolly put the xbox back on the gaming track next time, probably behind the price drops and bundles just to get as much of there stock into peoples homes as they can till then… quicker OS releases… I just hope none of there recent “bright” ideas hits the nokia phones cus they’ll wreck it

Raven Nafariea

I think they CAN change for the better. I mean really there is no where to go but up for MS. lol I am hoping they will at least. I always have hope for everyone and everything till I see it for myself so hey, fingers crossed. As for the Xbox. Nothing is going to save that (from a technical perspective that is.) I mean it will work out the bugs and I am sure people will find it fun and they will have some nice exclusives but only hardware changes will save it and if they did that then they may as well call it Xbox Two. I still can’t fathom that they are still using batteries to power the controllers and the reason why they went with the weaker Ram and the decision to not be able to replace the Hard Drive.

Gannicus

has the HD got windows on it? cus PS4 would seem to suggest there OS is held off HD which is why it can be replaced or its packed away into some flash ram which then gets installed on a new HD upon installation?

well if GDDR5 RAM densities hadn’t of bin increased youd of looked at a 4GB PS4 which could of performed the same prolly slower than MS’s console, being able to put 8GB in changed everything so prolly do with that… if they go 4K next time then hope they don’t think DDR4 and next upgrade of eSRAM will change it… Pascal NVidia GPU same as AMD is going to be using stacked DRAM and GDDR6 (I reckon) on the GPU for upto 1TB bandwidth… sony have bought nintendos DRAM factories and I think sony are gonna use stacked DRAM on PS5 so MS cant be stupidly short sighted next time, if they do someat stupid like they’ve done with this they may as well shutdown xbox or turn into like a roku device cus itll be a waste of time for anything else

Gannicus

Oh man don’t mention Win ME, the best part of that OS was the holographic disc… highest amount of system uptime 2days… minimum amount of uptime, installed…booted into windows BSOD totally screwed up needed to reinstall so threw it to one side and either reinstalled XP or Win 2000 (cant remember which one I had at the time)… win 2000 was rock solid :d think I came from 95 with that not sure though

DemonFenton

It sucked ME. Yet Xp came and boy I am going to say awesome and even after XP official support is over people still wanted supported that’s power. Hopefully MS looks at XP or hell even Win 7 and use the goods for 9. If they wanted to go Tablets make an Tablet edition with Metro. Metro is more for tablets while desktop for desktop PCs. Still wait and see on Win 9 release. Meantime at least MS going the right path by adding an straight to desktop for Win 8. Sorry for the late reply doing some gaming and indie defense research.

Scott Lindsey

Also, 8.1 will automatically boot to desktop automatically on computers with out touch screens.

Basically, they fired Sinofsky and Balmer because of 8 and the new people think that forcing Metro on desktop users was a huge mistake. So hold tight on 7 for now — win 9 should be back in form.

The fanboys will be a bit upset though. Popcorn!

Raven Nafariea

Yeah I heard that and that is wonderful news. That is why I am holding out hope for Windows 9. I really think MS has a chance of coming back again but time will tell. =)

Gannicus

the funny thing is now that you’ve mentioned it, it does boot to desktop lol never crossed my mind about the change haha

Raven Nafariea

lol, Is that like an optional thing where you can change it to boot to either one?

Gannicus

umm I dunno I cant remember, ill reboot it see what happens cus I might just do stuff on autopilot and not remember brb

Gannicus

ah yeah it is automatic lol never realised in win 8 got used to when it logged on pressing the win key to get to desktop, but loads up straight away :d

also best thing in win8 with the app store is GameDev Tycoon only about £3-4, when I bought that I spent loads of time on it hahah and theres some easter eggs like you start up on your own in a garage you can sell a game make maybe 60-100k, but I thought wonder what happened if I tried to make James Pond… 5million in sales lol Call of Duty is another apparently Star Citizen is one but I couldn’t get the settings right for the MMO so failed on that maybe even Battlefield don’t think I tried that. there are some upsides lol, maybe not many for you but its alright :d

Raven Nafariea

Cool, okay. I think I will see what W9 has to offer. It will be out next year I think anyways so not to long. =)

Gannicus

yeah prolly around the same time as DX12 knowing MS although it is supposed to work on win7 + up which makes it a first seeing as they usually tie new DX versions to latest OS so maybe they think right we’ll have to do gamers a solid here support more than 1 OS

Raven Nafariea

Well most people still prefer Windows 7 and it is the most widely used OP right now over W8. Especially since they just took Windows XP out back and shot it in the head. People went from that to W7. They kind of had to support W7 with DX12. I didn’t know that DX12 would be supported on W7 still so that is a good thing in case they mess up W9 as well so I can just stick with that.

Gannicus

I think it is im not 100% on that cus they come up with some reason why it simply wont work, like DX11.2 is only 8.1, but its same as w8 but 11.2 doesn’t work on win8 cus they’ve locked it out so doesn’t make any sense unless its someat do with the wddm drivers or something with it not working on say win7… so I dunno think the only reason is to try get people upgrade and DX12 is pretty big nvidias drivers instantly show big improvements and that’s not full DX12 just parts of it… so win9 could be good all round

Gannicus

I never understood the whole debacle with the start menu, it was a bit weird at first and in windows 8 to get the charm bar to pop up when your running 2 screens like monitor and TV was a bit of a task and also when you searched for something you had file, system, and something else you had to click on to get what you wanted but its much better now. hit win key + X to get a list of useful shortcuts… want to launch a program winkey (pops to metro) type in what you want then enter and its usually the thing you want, one step less than the run command or digging through a programs and folder thing on start menu… sure the winkey + x isn’t explained at all like a lot of stuff tbh I found it out on the internet and my mate with 8.1 didn’t know either till I told him and hes WOW didn’t know that… makes it much easier
Maybe people simply just cant be bothered to spend 1 hour to learn how to do this stuff. Its extremely easy and its no different than windows 7 really. Think MS problem was the same thing they did with xbox just throw everything at people at once and hope it sticks, rather than gradually introducing stuff… so I think win9 will defo be a hybrid of the to so learning curve isn’t so steep for people… also they actually need to explain how to use the new stuff. that was long ramble over haha

They Call Me Senpai

One of my supervisors and 1 or 2 college students that come into my store own a windows phone, everyone else has the predictable Samsung or iphone. Surprisingly, I’ve been seeing more and more people with the Xperia Z1s, which is a good sign.

I’ll either switch to the Xperia Z1 Compact or wait for the Xperia Z2 Compact, I’m done with Samsung and wouldn’t buy an iphone if someone put a gun to my family jewels.

IncognitosX

There are allot of things I can do on a Windows Pro tablet that you can’t do and never will be able to do on an IOS or Android tablet. However, the general public doesn’t need the applications I do so your statement isn’t total ignorance. Necessity doesn’t make me a “fan” by any means.

Gannicus

because I liked the live tiles and the layout, I owned a 3GS and after the initial wow, cus not many people had one back then, it got incredibly boring for me don’t see the fascination. Not much for android although seeing the Galaxy S series they are impressive far better than an iPhone think that’s why apple keep suing them for everything cus they’ve done what apple did, copy ideas and make them better!

Off contract now was thinking about Galaxy S5/waiting for the premium version but I like the look of the Lumia 930 coming out, 5″ 1080p AMOLED, 2GB ram, 32GB storage, snapdragon 800, 20Mpx pureview camera, metal outside coloured back ill link it in a min… don’t use the apps and games on me phone much every app I actually need like banking and stuff is on there, shame no one gives it any love the specs are right up there with android now so cant use specs as the downside anymore, also the nokia apps are really good actually so yah

I have a Lumia 925 it works great and hopefully the release the update to 8.1 soon

Gannicus

only got wait till june/july then 930 it is, not sure whether to go for a colour this time or stick with black

neko working

make app yourself, if i were asked to choose between windows phone or psvita app, i’d rather making one for psvita though :p

Gannicus

wouldn’t know where to start but id imagine creating an app that hooks directly into watch dogs to play someone that’s playing it on there console/PC is little more challenging than say flappy birds or another facebook app haha

http://www.twitch.tv/MC_A_DOT A DOT ASANTE

OOOO this info excites me.

VOSTORG

1080p 30fps locked

HustyparmenCZ

if its pretty steady – its unlocked 30 – 45

Dakky

source? Also why call me a r3tard?

Guy Brohski

On PS4 maybe it will be 1080p. But I’m guessing Xbox One will be 720/900p at 30fps with dips as low as 18fps.

Jack Joyce

Thank you Abriael I was wondering if you could customize your appearance in MP. Since in the gameplay they said “Randomly generates”.

I was worried since I plan on enjoying the Free Roam and MP. GTA Online was a massive let down for my friends and I. Looks like Watch Dogs won’t be.

Gannicus

I think MP also includes when you hack into someone elses game to I think which then itll randomly generate your appearance so you don’t look like aiden

Jack Joyce

Well I hope when I’m invited into a friends game or Join their game when it’s open. I get the option to customize my appearance.

DJ Evans

Was holding out on getting a PS4 until Destiny or The Division. After seeing the news and video’s about Watch_Dogs yesterday I went ahead and bought one!

http://www.twitch.tv/MC_A_DOT A DOT ASANTE

You made the right choice

Sexy Mcgee

Get yourself Infamous as well, it’s really good.

http://www.psthc.fr ExTrooperBrenTurner

May I suggest you pre-order the Watch_Dawgz + PS4 bundle ? Two birds with one stone.
EDIT : I should have read you post til the end, sorry. :/

ZeroFactorial

No worries, I didn’t even know they had a bundle coming out.

Raven Nafariea

Awesome, I think you are really going to love it! =)

Guest

Poor choice, you bought out of date hardware and a product from a brand that won’t be around in the next 5 years.

What if i wasnt? It just so happens i dont agree with the delusional view of sony fanboys that sony is fine, no sony is not fine, sony is selling stuff left and right,sony lays off ton of people sony sells buildings, they had 1 billion loses last year, they left the pc business and on top of that they gotta pay for exlusive sand morpheus, things are not easy for sony and ironicly am makes more money per ps4 than sony.

ps4 might be king right now but sony’s credit rating is not particulary good. Nitendo and ms may screwed up with their cosnoles but they got truckloads of money they can just burn them and they wil still have money. Sony however is not doing so hot, but what pisses me off is that sony fanboys deny it like crazy. While personally i believe that sony not being around in 5 year and someone else buying the playstaion brand is a possibility. It all goes together, sony made money to creat playstations and sell them at a loss thanks to their movie and electronics divisions, now those divisions are not doing very well and i dont know how sony will keep up with the costs in some years.

So i laughed at him but gave him a thumbs up for knowing about that while sony is pushing their finacial condition under the hype rag.

Now please dont damage control, it is what it is, in the end its playstation that matters not sony as a whole.

Raven Nafariea

Guess that upvote answered my question. I can see I gave you more credit
for being sensible than I thought. Good luck with your PS and Sony
conspiracy theories.

Now you gonna be a fanboy and close your eyes and ears and scream NO NO SONY IS FINE, well those who do “fine” by stuff and expand they dont sell stuff and fire people.

But keep on the hype train!!!

Raven Nafariea

When Sony is still here and going even stronger from decimating the Xbox 1 in two years I would like for you to throw that tripe at me then. 2013 articles before the success of the PS4 and the turn around of Sony management. Old new and a new day but yes, lets harp on that and say the sky is falling. BTW, I don’t hate your kind I just pity it. I am not a fanboy either. I just have the common sense not to back a lame horse.

DemonFenton

That’s all Dakan45 does is troll and yet doesn’t back it up at all. Heck he’s reviving old articles to troll PS fans. What Dakky I mean Dakan45 doesn’t realize is now the PlayStation brand for consoles is doing well while the Microsoft Xbox One brand lost UK and US. So now he’s trolling anyone on any articles including ancient history ones. I learn he’s more fun to laugh at than to take serious.

Dakky

lol i backed up everything it is you who has never backed up anything ever, so please cry some more sony fanboy

DemonFenton

Your funny all you do is resort to insults like now. Last time you blasted me on DRM, the other time on Metacritic and digging up some ancient history articles. If you can play nice with others than I don’t have to send you to the kiddie table like every time Dakkan45…opps I did it again exposing you.

Dakky

lol i insulted you? You started insulting me and i changed my name
because you are flat out wrong called me dakky like its a freakign
insult.

Sorry but you exposed nothing and i pwned you every time
but you are a buthurt n!!gga that has nothing better to do than shove ps4
up his arse.

Raven Nafariea

This person can not be banned for this post? Come on!

Dakky

i was baned and i am using a proxy, i can come back wherever i want with proxy and another acount ,cry some more, i just wanted to check something and yes you are all sony d!ck suckers here, here have a ps4 to lick

Backed it up with OLD news articles. Apparently nothing has changed since November of 2013? Let me ask you this. IF you are so certain that Sony is doomed and thus the future of the PS4 than why are you here continually posting and bashing Sony over and over again? Just let Sony implode and be happy with your MS inferior products or whatever it is you like better than Sony. I am too smart to fall for your doom and gloom tactics. Better luck next time but you are as transparent as glass and as thin as the air in your head.

Dakky

THEY ARE 2014 HOW THEY AR OLD YOU STUPID FANBOY?

Yes the LAST YEAR 1 billion loss is 2013, my go how delusional you all are.

“IF you are so certain that Sony is doomed and thus the future of the PS4 than why are you here continually posting and bashing Sony over and over again?”

Not that I’m supporting this Dakky guy, but I have to point out hypocrisy when I see it and it’s no different than you continually bashing the X1 when you’re so sure of it’s demise.

JustGaming

When racist, homophobic and base insults like the ones ‘it’ is throwing come in to play, then I’m not so sure it’s entirely hypocritical. The guy/gal is a freaking maniac who needs to get out of his parent’s basement and into the light more often.

Jerjef

Oh no doubt about it he’s off his rocker, but Raven still said it when she and alot of other people are doing the very same thing.

JustGaming

True, just not to that extreme level that he is taking it to. It’s way too much and too far IMO.

Jerjef

His extremism is irrelevant, she still called him out on something that she also does on a regular basis.

Raven Nafariea

Wow, that is definitely the saddest troll I have ever seen in my life right there. I am amazed, I really am that someone can be that dumb yet be so proud of it.

Dakky

and i pitty you for your fanboysm and lack of common sense kid.

So you think sony will make money out of selling ps4 at a loss? Dont say they are selling them at proft, amd makes more money per console, thus sony isnt making anything. it doesnt matter that it decimates xbox one, if xbox one fails, ms simply sells the rights to xbox and moves on, ms is 3.5 times sony’s size. They wont give a damn and thats the problem, you think that xbox is the downfall of ms and wiiu is killing nitendo but in reallity sony has taken a whole lot more damage than they did and the diffirence here is that those 2 got money to burn sony does not. Its not about the cosnole its about the company, no funds from the company, no funds for the cosnole, playstation will survive 200%, sony however MIGHT go bunkrupt in 5 years you dont know what will happen then.

But ofcouse you get annoyed by the fact that i said sony has serious finacial troubles, thats all i dont bash playstation, i said sony has been lossing money like crazy and you have to defend that and you saying you are not a fanboy? Come on.

Out of those articles only one is in 2013, and the other one that reffers to the loss they had LAST year, the ones that say that sony layoffs people and sells propery and their credit ratign is downgraded to “junk” are rom 2014, by that time sony had sold 5 million playstations.

But hey we established i am just pulling conspiracy theories out of my arse and all those reports and investors dont know anything and a simple change of management will save sony becasue…they are sony and sony are gods.

Guy Brohski

Damn, I didn’t know Sony was doing that bad :/

joe

what the? back when the PS4 was announced they said they would be using the DS4’s touchpad for hacking, what happened?

Guest

Lies, overhype and underdeliver, same thing with the resolution. The touchpad isn’t as great as many would like to think. Sorry

Raven Nafariea

I love the touchpad, in inFamous it was great and I am looking forward to how they will use it in the future.

Actually the touch pad when implemented correctly is a really great feature, take your crybaby BS somewhere else.

JustGaming

Dakky as a guest.

Guy Brohski

Well the DS4’s touchpad adds an extra layer of depth to games, as the amount of console controller inputs are extremely limited compared to a mouse/kb set up. The touchpad effectively “adds” more buttons to the controller. It’s really not a bad idea if you think about it..

Placebo

Yeah it really is a shame that Ubi aren’t bothering to use the DS4 properly, even Tomb Raider did a good job with the DS4 utilising both the touch pad and the internal speaker as well as using voice commands when you have a headset connect (admittedly they were a little buggy and used to lower my bow when I sneezed but at least the effort was there!) The DS4 is IMO the most innovative controller we’ve seen for a few console generations and I’m very happy with it (even if it took a little getting used to after moving from the 360’s stick).

Dakky

I dont get why everyone is happy with the releases footage, it just looks average, infamous for example has far better graphics.

When I get my fast internet hopefully ill go with virgin media and get 150Mbit (15MB/s) and switch to digital… good thing is most games install with .pak files in the assets folder so if you got big HD’s like me copy the .pak s or whatevers in the assets folder into a storage drive (update the assets folder after every patch) then need to reinstall the digital start the download process pause it, replace the files back into the game directory much faster game install

Guy Brohski

Ubisoft is lying. They know exactly what the resolution is going to be for each console, but MS is probably paying them “hush money”, so as not to make the XB1 look bad.

Jerjef

I like it. Perhaps they can withhold it and let people figure it out for themselves.

ShadowDivz

Damn, that team vs team mode sounded fun.
Oh well, if i ever get a PS4 im sure i will get watch dogs again, just to compare.